I'm not sure how this rumor got legs underneath it in the first place, but Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer did her part to be the notion to bed when she tweeted that the Cleveland Browns will not pursue a potential trade for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb according to what she's hearing from a league source.
↵In a telling example of just how starved fans and the media are for the NFL to end the lockout and return to business as usual, the source of the rumor seems to have been Mike Lombardi's recent comments on the NFL Network concerning potential trade partners for Kolb.
↵↵↵"I’m going to go Cleveland [if I'm the Eagles]," Lombardi said. "I’m not buying the Colt McCoy love affair going on in Cleveland. I don’t know how you can have the love affair. I think with the extra pick they got from Atlanta, that first-rounder, it’s gonna be hard to beat them in a poker game."
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I don't think anybody along Lake Erie, including the Browns' front office and coaching staff, is ready to entertain serious reservations about Colt McCoy. Granted, there is likely some fracture between the level of confidence some might have in McCoy. But the former Texas Longhorns QB did more than enough in his rookie season to make Browns fans believe that he could provide the type of stable, competent play at QB over time provided he was surrounded by capable playmakers, a solid offensive line and an improved defense.
↵By trading down so far with Atlanta in this year's Draft, the Browns took a huge first step towards stockpiling the future picks they'd need to go about doing just that. As I type that, I think, wouldn't Cleveland have just used its high pick this year on Blaine Gabbert or one of the other regarded QB prospects in this year's draft if they had such serious reservations about McCoy? Perhaps not if they weren't enamored with this year's crop. But still.
↵Anyway, the lone reason to believe the trade could in fact come to fruition at this point is because of the connection between Kolb and Browns' general manager Tom Heckert. I can see how Heckert might still be searching for some sort of validation of the Kolb selection when he was with the Eagles. But don't forget that Holmgren has the last say in such matters, not Heckert. And for now, it's Holmgren who's looking A-okay for nabbing McCoy in last year's draft.
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